Getting Spammed with "Disk Not Ejected Properly"

[northernmunky]

I'm using this enclosure from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07F9VQ4XC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It has a 1TB Samsung 970 EVO SSD installed in it and is connected directly to a TB3 port, no hubs in between. No problems as long as my Mac doesn't go to sleep and the speeds fully saturate the 10Gbps link. I'll keep tabs on Samsung's site to see if they update the drive's firmware. Not sure if I'll see any support for the enclosure since searching the brand doesn't bring up any results other than the Amazon listings. This will probably turn into a secondary drive eventually since my photo library will fit on the local storage on my incoming iMac (couldn't go 256GB on the top-spec) and I keep trying to have iTunes network-attached but run into snags. But Mojave hasn't been bug-free for me since upgrading so I wouldn't be surprised if this gets fixed in an update (hopefully with SMB which I posted a separate thread about).

Its usually more the USB 3.0 controller chip on the PCI interface in the enclosure thats the problem. I wouldnt worry too much about the Samsung firmware but if you can its always worthwhile updating.

To be fair, for an NVME enclosure I'd be surprised they're not using USB 3.1 so maybe they cheaped out on the USB controller chip but this is an unknown Chinese brand so might be difficult to find any firmware if it exists at all and often is the case with these brands is they write their firmware to cater for Windows users and ignore macOS users entirely so I've got into the habit of buying enclosures from bigger brands - like Drobo for example I have no trouble with, but I also have a ORICO drive which disconnects if nothing is writing to it for a certain period of time.

Then again, that said I have a Samsung 4Tb spinner that disconnects itself on Windows but works perfectly fine on macOS!! Because that makes sense!

 

[MaxMike]

To be fair, for an NVME enclosure I'd be surprised they're not using USB 3.1...

It actually is 3.1 Gen2 with Blackmagic Speed Test reporting about 1GB/s read/write.

I decided to try a different TB3 port since I remembered reading that on my specific MBP, the left ports differ from the right ones. And shockingly, I didn't get any of the disk eject warnings after it sat in sleep all night. Maybe worth looking back into exactly how they are different depending on the side of the chassis.

 

[zmreact]

I've made three things:

• Deleted Caffeine app
• Converted / formatted my disk drives to APFS
• Updated to the latest Mojave 10.13.3

One of this is the solution.

 

[MacinMan]

Hey guys, I would like to piggy back on this thread, and say that I've had the Disk not ejected error in recent weeks too, however mine is more obscure then most of the reports I've read.

My setup is a late 2015 27" iMac Mojave 10.14.4, 32 GB RAM
2 My Passport 4 TB drives in a raid 0 to give me 8 TB as my 6 TB drive got filled up with Media for Plex.
1 J5Create generic usb 3.0 enclosure with a WD Green 3TB drive installed for TM Backups.

Here is what happens in my case: Any USB 3 drive connected to the hub (which is powered usb 3) will eject improperly when the iMac goes to sleep. In my case it's JUST HUB RELATED, as the built in ports of the iMac don't have this problem. It doesn't matter if the drive is self powered, or bus powered either, as long as it's on a hub, and usb 3, it doesn't play nice with sleep.

Typically, I would not even have been concerned about this issue, as I don't sleep my iMac (just display) as it causes problems for the media servers. However, the problem comes when the OS ignores the Prevent Sleep setting in energy saver, that prevents newer Macs from also sleeping when the display does.

I did purchase Jettison for $5 and that does resolve the issue, (in the event the Mac does sleep) as it ejects drives before sleep. However today, I went by Office Depot to buy a new hub since what I had was a few years old, and didn't dismiss the possibility of a failing hub, however, the brand new hub has the same issues with sleep, and usb 3 drives. I'm convinced this is a driver issue, and not hardware. I am content with Jettison as a solution, the app works well, and while I may return the hub, I may daisy chain the two hubs as both are powered, and I was running out of usb 3 ports anyone, and no one here sells more then a 4 port hub. Also if I need it, the new hub supports rapid charging and is apple compatible per specs on the box.

By the way one thing more I wanted to include was, it doesn't matter if I pull the AC plug out of the hub, or leave it in, any usb 3 drive on the hub isn't happy when the Mac goes to sleep. So, it's either a usb power issue, or bad drivers in macOS. USB 2.0 drives don't seem to have this issue. I do have an older USB 2.0 hub, that's also powered, which I could probably use to prevent this, however, then I would lose speed on usb devices.

One final question, I did read, that the Mac doesn't unmount drives before sleep, and maybe this is why I'm having an issue with drives connected to a hub vs directly. Is this claim correctly, or was that information incorrect? thanks.

If anyone has any suggestions beyond what I've done, let me know thanks.

 

[tmartine]

saying it's a problem with the OS is saying it's universal (ie it's not a 'problem i'm having, it's a problem with the OS'... which we all use, and, by definition, would then affect all, or most of us.

since this is not the case, it IS a problem you're having (and one worth pursuing a solution for). good luck!

Your logic is not sound... so if a bridge is out and I go over it and fall to my death... and you never go over that bridge and are never killed.. the bridge is not objectively out.. not a problem..?

Because every user doesn't experience a problem with software doesn't necessarily mean it's not a problem with the software.. just that all the conditions that conspired to surface that issue were only experience by some.. correct?

 

[MacinMan]

I wanted to follow up to my first post, and include more info: This appears to be a Mojave specific problem. I installed High Sierra to an external USB drive, to have. around as a test system. I booted the iMac from this drive, and put the computer to sleep. The improper disconnect did not happen when High Sierra woke up. Only seems to happen to usb 3 drives connected to the powered hub, and only under Mojave. Version 10.14.4 installed. As mentioned installing a program called "Jettison" fixed the problem, however High Sierra doesn't seem to need Jettison installed, and works correctly. While I like dark mode, I might go back to High Sierra as the installed OS, and Mojave doesn't have anything I really need. Though, I would like to see the issue fixed. (officially by Apple.)

 

[HDFan]

My experience has been that improper disk ejects are a function of the external hardware. I had a thunderbolt OWC hub with USB 3 ports that I finally had to discard because devices connected to it continually ejected. The same devices connected to a USB 3 hub were fine. An inexpensive 5 slot RAID device used as a JBOD also was continually ejecting. I even had problems with a Promise Pegasus, which went away when I changed other external hardware. Have never had a problem with a Drobo or a OWC Raid enclosure, so I generally only purchase from top notch vendors who support their product.

If Amazon has any support for the enclosure I would call them. You might try another enclosure from another vendor that offers support to work the issue. This issue has existed over many versions of MacOS, so I don't expect any magic fixes unless you can get a vendor to work with Apple.

 

[fisherking]

Your logic is not sound... so if a bridge is out and I go over it and fall to my death... and you never go over that bridge and are never killed.. the bridge is not objectively out.. not a problem..?

Because every user doesn't experience a problem with software doesn't necessarily mean it's not a problem with the software.. just that all the conditions that conspired to surface that issue were only experience by some.. correct?

not sure about the bridge analogy. but yes, "Because every user doesn't experience a problem with software doesn't necessarily mean it's not a problem with the software", nor does it mean it IS necessarily a problem with the software.

there are so many variables. perhaps, better to get help finding a solution than assuming anything about the source of the problem.

 

[MacinMan]

not sure about the bridge analogy. but yes, "Because every user doesn't experience a problem with software doesn't necessarily mean it's not a problem with the software", nor does it mean it IS necessarily a problem with the software.

there are so many variables. perhaps, better to get help finding a solution than assuming anything about the source of the problem.

I'm currently working on a solution for my situation to solve this issue. I have an older PC, that's not really suitable for a main computer. as it has older hardware, but it's perfect for a Linux / NAS solution. I added a gigabit ethernet card to it, and I'm transferring my media from my external drives on the Mac to the internal drives on this box. Since I mainly need network storage, and have a gigabit LAN, this will work well for streaming, and take the demands off the Mac for hosting the data, and only running the server(s).

Currently, I have a 6 TB drive installed as the secondary storage device, and a 1 TB as the primary system drive. The system has a legacy bios so I think the biggest drive I can use as system, is a 2 TB drive. The 6TB is recognized and can be used for storage, as Linux is able to format it as GUID. I also have a free 5.25 bay, so could buy a set of brackets and add a third drive. For computing, I'm really trying to move away from depending on Apple. I've used their products since the 80's and while I still like some things, they are going a direction, that doesn't help me in my needs any longer. At least, they are making it tough for me to enjoy using their products anymore.

 

[Glu3]

I signed up just to let everyone know that I have the same issue when my Macbook Pro 2015 running Mojave go to sleep. It happens to all of my USB drives such as Sandisk 256GB thumb drive, Samsung 32GB thumb drive, WD 1TB external HDD, Samsung EVO 860 in an Orico 2.5 box.

 

[nidostar]

I have recently replaced my 2009 iMac running El Capitan with a brand new model running Mojave. I am using exactly the same USB hub and HDDs. With my old iMac I didn't experience this problem ever but on my new machine have a pile of notifications awaiting me after a lengthy sleep period (the Mac not me!). I am also finding that the desktop icons for each drive are sometimes duplicated and when clicking on them results in the dreaded beachball and Finder freezing. I try relaunching Finder but without any luck. The desktop clears and is not repopulated. Clicking on the Finder icon to "open" the task fails. I then try selecting Restart but that also results in the beachball and I eventually have to restart by pressing the button on the back. I have tried resetting NVRAM and methodically ticking/unticking boxes under the Energy Saver option in Preferences but thus far have found no solution to this problem. From posts here and elsewhere on the net it seems I am not the only one to fail to resolve the issue.

 

[Mr. Retrofire]

OSX 10.11.3 and USB PROBLEMS

Since upgrading to El Capitan, I started having problems with my USB Bose speakers, disconnecting randomly. Hoping the issue would be dealt with I continued upgrading to the current version 10.11.3, and now I have a malfunctioning USB monitoring Video Camera. When Are these USB problems going to...

forums.macrumors.com

Use this, then restart your Mac!

 

[Ruggy]

Its usually more the USB 3.0 controller chip on the PCI interface in the enclosure thats the problem. I wouldnt worry too much about the Samsung firmware but if you can its always worthwhile updating.

To be fair, for an NVME enclosure I'd be surprised they're not using USB 3.1 so maybe they cheaped out on the USB controller chip but this is an unknown Chinese brand so might be difficult to find any firmware if it exists at all and often is the case with these brands is they write their firmware to cater for Windows users and ignore macOS users entirely so I've got into the habit of buying enclosures from bigger brands - like Drobo for example I have no trouble with, but I also have a ORICO drive which disconnects if nothing is writing to it for a certain period of time.

Then again, that said I have a Samsung 4Tb spinner that disconnects itself on Windows but works perfectly fine on macOS!! Because that makes sense!

My experience too. I've had this (but not as bad) and it's very specific and one enclosure seemed to be the problem.
USB 3 has a lot of interference problems- just for info probably not relevant in this case, but it can cause your 2.4ghz wifi network to become invisible. A longer cable and moving it further away can help.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

So much overly-simplistic troubleshooting! Computers are by nature a complex system, with both internal and external factors that can contribute to a problem.

I've been using Mojave for over a year without disk eject errors, with external drives from a variety of makers. Does that mean Mojave's handling of external drives will be perfect under all operating conditions? Not necessarily. However, if the vast majority of users do not have a problem (and by the time 24 months of alpha, beta, and public release patches have been made, bugs affecting large numbers of users will almost always have been addressed), odds are that it's something more than "buggy OS."

They say it takes two to tango, and in computing the situation more closely resembles a wedding reception with a crowd of drunks trying to do the Chicken Dance, Alley Cat, Hora, or other group dance... Or if you'd rather, a rugby scrum - lots of moving pieces, a fair chance of an unexpected collision. The fact that normally things run with the precision of the Rockettes or the Grambling State University marching band is a miracle.

Consider the recent headline-making issue that was initially attributed to Mac "Trashcans" running Avid software... https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...by-mysterious-software-issue-updated.2201109/ This turned out to be users who had disabled Apple SIP (System Integrity Protection) and had coincidentally installed a recent version of Google Chrome's Keystone updater.

Complex systems breed complex problems, and based on what I read here, day in and day out, very few users (even "power users") are truly effective at troubleshooting/problem isolation. I see a whole lot of "shotgun troubleshooting" - trying one suggested fix after the other, until something works (even though many of the "fixes" don't match the symptoms). It's as if a physician gave a patient a handful of assorted pills in hopes that one might be the cure.

Getting back to the SIP/Keystone crash... This was almost undoubtedly isolated by someone skilled in analyzing system logs - likely a software engineer rather than a service tech or end user. Someone who knows that correlation does not necessarily equate to causality.

 

[nidostar]

Thanks Mr Retrofire. I tried your suggestion (sudo pmset -a autopoweroff 0) which has oddly disappeared from your post but while it reduced the number of Disk Ejection Notifications it didn't remove them altogether and all but one of the external HDDs was dismounted. My Time Machine Backups drive remained connected. A restart was necessary to re-mount the other drives.

 

[Civil Engineer]

I have a late '14 iMac 5K running the latest Mojave.It has a Seagate drive directly connected to it with a USB cable as a Time Machine backup drive. I get this message intermittently, maybe 30-40%. So I do not think it necessarily has anything to do with an external enclosure.

 

[nidostar]

Solved it! Mr Retrofire’s suggestion prompted me to compare the pmset settings on my new Mac to those on my old one (with which I was not having this problem). I found the hibernatemode setting was 3 on my Mojave machine which I understand is the default Safe Sleep setting for laptops made after 2005. Whereas the setting on my El Capitan Mac was 0 which I also understand is the default for desktop computers. So I changed the setting on my new Mac using <sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0> and hey presto no more disk ejection notifications.

 

[Mr. Retrofire]

@nidostar
The
"sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 0"
setting changes the USB (UASP) driver power management for OS X (macOS) 10.11.x or newer.

 

[MIKX]

In "System Preferences /. Energy Saver". is "Put hard disks to sleep when possible" checked ?

if so . .. UN-check it, Might help